Nimrod safety check was botched Published Date: 14 May 2008
By ROSS LYDALL
THE Nimrod spy plane that exploded in mid air over Afghanistan, killing 14 servicemen, should not have been passed safe to fly, it emerged yesterday.
Detailed checks failed to detect the "fundamental design flaw" of having hot pipes near the fuel supply in the ageing aircraft, which was based – along with 12 of the victims – at RAF Kinloss in Moray.
The plane was blown out of the sky near Kandahar in September 2006 when leaking fuel ignited moments after air-to-air refuelling.
The crew had no means of tackling the initial fire and attempted an emergency landing. But the 37-year-old surveillance plane exploded at 3,000ft.
An inquest was yesterday told by RAF Air Commodore George Baber that the danger should have been picked up at a hazard assessment.
Air Commodore Baber told Oxford coroner's court that having fuel couplings in the same compartment as a hot air pipe was a "fundamental design flaw".
He led the team that carried out the checks with defence contractor BAE to ensure the plane was airworthy, and said the "buck stopped" with him. He told the hearing that during the checks, a number of hazards were identified. He said the possibility of the explosion in the "dry bay" was graded as "improbable". But he admitted it should have graded higher.
Air Commodore Baber told the inquest: "At the heart of this was a fundamental design flaw. This hazard assessment process was an opportunity to catch any inherent design flaw. We failed to catch that design flaw. The consequences were catastrophic and that is why we are here today."
He added that the mistake in categorising the potential hazard was a "failure".
When asked by Michael Rawlinson, the lawyer representing the families, whether the Nimrod was safe to fly, he replied: "I find it difficult to answer because the simple answer is 'No' because we had an accident.
"Any aircraft we fly carry hazards all the time. Clearly, if we knew then what we know now, we would not have flown the aircraft."
The Ministry of Defence last night told The Scotsman that the problem had been rectified. A spokesman said hot air no longer circulates through the pipe while Nimrods are in flight. "The hot air pipe thought to be the source of ignition in the Nimrod XV230 crash has been turned off across the fleet," said a spokesman.
The inquest continues.
Source
http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Nimrod-safety-check-was-botched.4079633.jp
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